Thinking about working with Manuel "Manny" Canseco of Cibolo Creek Building Co?
Read this first.
Manuel "Manny" Canseco of Cibolo Creek Building Co San Antonio/Austin TX
Read this first.
Manuel "Manny" Canseco of Cibolo Creek Building Co San Antonio/Austin TX
Hi, my name is Matt.
I would not recommend working with Manuel “Manny” Canseco or Cibolo Creek Building Co.
I hired Cibolo Creek Building Co in December of 2020 to remodel and add an addition to my house in Austin, Texas.
At first, before I paid any money, working with Cibolo Creek Building Co was fine. Manny was polite, communicative, and clearly very smart.
The project as well as Manny's customer service went downhill as soon as I paid a significant amount of money.
So far:
1. I've paid Cibolo Creek Building Co $68,600 to remodel my house and add an addition
2. The work I paid for has not been done
3. The owner of Cibolo Creek Building Co, Manuel, continues to ignore most of my texts and calls
4. I've asked for a refund repeatedly and he has not paid me back
5. Manny has made promise after promise about both finishing my house or giving me my money back without following through on either
This page was created to protect future homeowner’s from Manny’s scammy behavior.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have never hired Cibolo Creek Building or Manuel Canseco.
He has taken my money and refuses to do the work or pay me back my money.
I bought a house in Austin, Texas in December of 2020.
My vision was to turn this property into my home and an investment.
Cibolo Creek Building Co was recommended to me as a construction company that would be good to work with.
I contacted Cibolo Creek and met the owner of Cibolo Creek Building Co, Manuel "Manny" Canseco and his former business partner to discuss the plans for my home in detail.
After discussing my plans and my budget, I decided to work with Cibolo Creek Building on my home remodel for an agreed upon price of $198,000.
In December 2020, Manuel told me that:
- He needed $18,700 immediately to start the project (which I paid promptly).
- It would take 4 months to finish my home
- My home would be ready to live in by the end of April 2021
- He would send an official agreement about our project, which he failed to do (months later, I had to write an agreement and get him to sign it, after nagging about it for weeks.)
After the initial payment of $18,700, we started on demolition and soon Manny told me that to keep the project moving along, it was time to pay for framing, doors, trim, plumbing and another installment of his general contractor fee, which in total all amounted to $49,900.
I paid for that.
Manuel Canseco did not keep the promises above.
After 2.5 months, work stopped on the house and 2 red flags started to appear:
Red flag #1: Manuel started texting me excuses for why the project wasn't getting done, such as:
1. He was dealing with a lawsuit. Manny has repeatedly claimed his ex-business partner stole over $500k from the business and Manny is currently suing for damages (the public court shows no record of such lawsuit).
2. Subcontractors bailed on projects (I have since found out he wasn't paying some of his subcontractors).
3. His employees were making mistakes.
4. His mother was in the hospital and Manny had been spending every night by her bedside.
Manny has repeatedly blamed subcontractors, architects, his ex business partner and other people.
Red flag #2: He started avoiding my calls and texts, telling me he would call me back, and rarely doing so.
Between April and August I called Manny over 50 times and he only picked up 4 times, dodging my calls every other time. Manny has made countless promises over the phone and in person, but very few in writing.
So far, I have paid Manny $68,600 total to remodel my house and add an addition.
April 2021 was the deadline for this project.
As of September 2021, $0 of the $68k funds have been applied to my project since March of 2021.
Instead of using part of the $68k that I had already paid, Manny insisted that I pay out of my own pocket to have the bathroom tiled and an electrician get the electrical panel to a place where work could be done. WTF.
Our original agreement to ensure I wasn’t getting overcharged was that Manny would update a spreadsheet with all expenses including receipts spent towards my house; e.g. subcontractors paid, supplies purchased, etc. He never shared a single expense, leading me to believe he overstated costs and owes me more than I am asking.
After realizing Manny wasn't using my money to work on my house, I asked Manuel for my money back, including the hard costs I had been paying on the unfinished property.
I told him that if the pace of this project did not increase, I would report him to the Better Business Bureau, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and create a website sharing this story.
He responded to this by saying "none of that means anything to me" but assured me that "he would make it right." He repeatedly claimed that he's "not the kind of person to abandon a project."
I believed him, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and tried to find a working arrangement with him.
Manny agreed that it was fair and reasonable for me to get repaid for my hard costs (mortgage, utilities, extra rent, etc) during a conversation on June 10th, 2021.
He told me a sob story about how his business partner stole over $500,000 from the business and he was working to get the money back, getting cheated and robbed sent him into a depression where he could hardly get out of bed, his crew lost morale and projects started to slip, and that he was spending most of his time in the hospital (that doesn't have cell service, btw) by his mom's bedside.
He promised, guaranteed, and assured me that he would get my project back on track.
I felt bad for him. He was good to work with in the beginning and I wanted him to succeed in getting his life back on track. I wrongly trusted him. So in June we made a plan to get the project back on track with Manny taking responsibility for my hard costs by working favors with subcontractors and me not paying any more General Contractor fees. Manny looked me in the eye, shook my hand, and told me he would treat me like a "partner".
Little did I know how little he thinks of partners.
The promises almost immediately fell apart and the whole situation got messy again. The work that we agreed on wasn't getting done, when I asked for proof that he was working on it he wouldn't respond, and he insisted that I pay out of pocket for the little work we were able to get done.
I just wanted my money back at this point, so I asked for it again. And again. And again.
Manny has agreed to give me my money back multiple times and still hasn’t (audio clip below).
I'm pissed. I feel robbed and cheated and scammed. I started looking into other people's experiences working with Manny and can hardly believe what I've found.
So far, I have found 4 other clients and 8 subcontractors who claim to have been defrauded by Manny since January 2021.
As of this writing, he has two lawsuits against him.
Under Chapter 27, Section 17 of the Texas Property Code taking money and not returning to the job is a felony.
Cibolo Creek Building Co is no longer an active corporation, as Manny stopped paying franchise taxes in 2019, which means he is personally responsible for any legal recourse.
Manny explaining how he's going to pay me back
I've paid Manny $68,000 to remodel my home.
It was supposed to be ready in April 2021.
The property has not been worked on since March 2021.
This is what it looks like as of September 2021.
